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June 12, 2000
BY DAVE HOEKSTRA STAFF REPORTER
There's a new twist in town.
An abstract, pretzel-like steel sculpture was installed last week at the intersection of Grand and Western. The 24-foot-tall sculpture, which was assembled with discarded lampposts, is Chicago's newest piece of public art.
The piece, titled "Episodic," was made by Chicago artist Josh Garber. The sculpture was donated to the City of Chicago art collection by the West Loop Gate Organization, 1000 W. Randolph.
"No one knows what it's supposed to be," said David Austern, co-owner of Finicky's hot dog stand, across the street from the sculpture. "Everyone is calling it `the biggest pretzel in the world.' It's an improvement of what was there before. There'd be garbage and weeds. Once or twice a summer the city would clean it up and cut the grass."
City of Chicago Director of Public Art Michael Lash said, "It's OK that people don't know what it is. They're not memorials. They're not pieces we want people to walk up to. The landscaping keeps people away from them."
Garber knows what it is.
"There's a molecular, atomic feel to it," said Garber, 37. "I see it as industrial material being made into something fluid and smooth. `Episodic' has a feeling with time movement, and each circle is a different move in time."
Between 1997 and 1998, Garber's stainless steel sculpture "Rapt" greeted visitors at the Elmhurst Museum of Art.
"It's OK people don't understand it," Garber said. "There isn't a consensus on any one piece of art anyway. Actually, it's much more interesting that they don't."
"Episodic" will be touched up with blue paint. The Chicago Department of Transportation and landscapers planted a couple of trees and flowers to complement the sculpture.
"There's hundreds of awkward triangle spaces in the city," Lash said. "All of them could use something, but we've marked off which ones could use public art as a logical transition element as you move through neighborhoods. We want a concrete triangle to become a streetscape oasis."
A 1950s Herbert Ferber abstract expressionist sculpture serves as a gateway at the triangle of Ashland, Madison and Ogden. "That was our first experiment to see if drive-by art could work," Lash said.
"Episodic" is the city's fourth such experiment.
Chicago landscaper Merry Martell was planting grass and hostas around the sculpture Thursday. "They should paint it brown with some salt on it," Martell said. "People drive by and say it looks like a pretzel. Another guy said it looked like intestines. Some guy this morning was mad about it. He wanted to know who he could call to complain."
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